The switch became even clearer on Dec. 10, when Keith dropped the other shoe by coming out straightforwardly on Assange’s side, featuring two supporters of WikiLeaks, Daniel Ellsberg (left), of Pentagon Papers fame, and —of all people—Ron Paul (below), who was shown giving an impassioned and eloquent speech in defense of Assange and the value to the nation and the world of transparency in government, especially when issues of war and peace are on the balance. (See clip above) Like many Libertarians, Paul is firmly against wars and foreign adventures, judging them erroneously (in our view) as products of “corporatism” and not “real capitalism”—whatever that may be. (This is a false distinction common among libertarians, a notion probably stemming from their stubborn ahistoricism—they fail to accept the fact that in time, when left to its own devices, the logic and dynamic of market competition spawns firms that are both oligopolistic in size and multinational in scope of operations, a fact that inevitably ends up involving the capitalist-controlled state to do their bidding. If it sounds familiar it’s because that’s precisely the history of all capitalist evolutions, including our own.)

Take your objectivity and shove it

(See

The Political Function of PBS remains one of the funniest and most devastating examinations of the practice. Click here to read it. )

Needless to say, mention of WikiLeaks among this lot was minimal or nonexistent, and the tone exhibited impeccably distant or glacial, when not subtly hostile. That’s beyond bad, its inexcusable for people who claim to be progressives.

SUMMATION

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